Jelly confectionery is a broad expression used to refer to a class of confectionery made from a bulk sweetener such as sugar, glucose, a sugar-substitute or a mixture thereof, and a hydrocolloid gelling system which imparts setting properties on the confection. Typical hydrocolloids include pectin, agar-agar, gelatine, gum, starch and combinations thereof.
Jelly confectionery is typically prepared by cooking the ingredients (with the exception of acids, colour and flavour) to the required temperature or the required solids content, cooling the hot fluid composition to a deposition temperature, adding acid, colour and flavour, depositing the jelly confectionery into a mould and cooling and conditioning the moulded product.
Deposition of the jelly confectionery involves pumping a measured quantity of the hot jelly into a mould. One problem that arises during deposition of the hot jelly confectionery material is that the flow of material can be difficult to stop, which leads to “tailing”. This can be a particular problem if higher solids are used during jelly confectionery depositing, or if low depositing temperatures are used. Higher solids contents and lower temperatures tend to make the liquid confectionery material more viscous. As well as creating poorly shaped products due to tailing, higher solids contents can also give rise to processing difficulties, including premature gelling in the case of some gelling agents and possible blockage of lines in the depositor or other process equipment.
Centre-filled jelly confectionery is prepared by co-depositing a centre filling within an outer jelly shell in a “one-shot depositor” or similar equipment. The problems of tailing and processing difficulties described above can be even greater in the production of centre-filled jelly confectionery from two different confectionery materials, each of which can be subject to tailing and processing difficulties.
One problem that can arise with the production of centre-filled jelly confectionery is that “leakers” can be produced, if the inner filling has a tail that extends through the outer jelly shell. Current techniques for preventing this problem from occurring include reducing the viscosities of the outer confectionery material and centre-filling, and depositing the centre-filling in a position so that it sinks or rises to be located in the centre of the shell, to avoid leakage. It is also known to match the density of the two components. However, reducing the viscosity by reducing the solids content increases the time taken to dry and condition the product. Such controls are not always sufficient to avoid leakage, and there is a need for new techniques to address this problem.
There is also an interest in the confectionery industry to develop new and interesting confectioneries.